Before They Were Famous

For eight-years now, James Corden has been a late-night host heralded by many for reimagining the more proto-typical elements of that tried and true formula to re-invent it for the viral age. If you need proof, look no further than “The Late, Late Show’s” YouTube channel which has almost 10 billion views and more than 28 Million subscribers. When Corden took over hosting duties from Craig Ferguson in 2015, he was already an award-winning actor and writer who had co-starred in the Bafta winning BBC sitcom, “Gavin and Stacy”, but as big of an impact as Corden made almost immediately upon taking over, he also found himself mired in controversy, perhaps best personified by 2019 Ask Me Anything on Reddit that became, if you’ll allow me to quote The Hollywood Reporter: An embarrassing reminder of his unpopularity”. In what was quite possibly the shortest question and answer session of all time, Corden only wound up responding to three inquiries before being flooded with somewhere around 700 negative comments. Seriously. Once that happened, James Corden promptly left the chat, perhaps in the hope of preserving some semblance of his carefully cultivated reputation as a loveable Brit taking over America. But over time, that act has become tired and run its course. Simply put, audiences just don’t seem to be buying Corden’s “nice guy” image anymore, especially not when it conflicts with the many controversial things he’s done over the past few years. So, if you’ve ever wondered what it took to bring down the King of “Carpool Karaoke”, then keep watching our newest episode here on SnapChat where we’re going to investigate “The Downfall of James Corden”.

Before rapper 2Rare would secure himself a “big-bag” as one of hip-hop’s hottest new rappers, he was born Naseem Young on August 12th, 2000 in the city of brotherly love, Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. Growing up on the streets of North Philly, Naseem found himself exposed to the rough side of the city up close and personal. While witnessing robberies and shootings, Naseem did what he could to avoid the perils of the streets and wound up earning a reputation for himself through different means. First, Naseem turned heads with his remarkable talent for dancing. And it wasn’t a skill that he kept hidden. He not only uploaded videos online of himself doing the Wu-Tang – an energetic dance that originated in his hometown – he even headed over to his neighborhood skating ring on the weekend to showcase his skills in public. Eventually, however, Naseem would gravitate more and more towards football – dedicating as much of his free-time as he could towards getting better at the sport in the hopes of going professional. In fact, before long he was ranked in the Top-10 in all of Philly as a wide-receiver at Lincoln High School.

Before becoming one of the newest driving forces behind the Brooklyn-drill rap scene, Kyle Richh was born Kyle Henry Fasheun January 22 in 2003 to a pair of African parents in the neighborhood of Brownsville, New York. And while Kyle has always gotten along with his folks, they haven’t exactly been the biggest supporters of his career – in point of fact, they hardly know anything about rap music at all. It probably didn’t help matters that, as a kid, Kyle often found himself out on the nearby streets of Brownsville getting into all kinds of trouble -- sometimes until 5 or 6 AM. Whenever he’d finally get home in the early hours of the morning, he says he could always see the disappointment etched on his parents’ faces. As such, when it comes to the inter-dynamics of Kyle’s family, things have gotten a little complicated over the years. While the young rapper claims to love his mother and little sister to death, he’s got a far more contentious relationship with his father. Throughout the course of his life and right up until the present day, Kyle’s dad has never once told him that he loves him -- instead, he’s chosen the path of tough love, hoping that discipline and a firm hand would keep his son on the straight-and-narrow – not that it ever actually worked.

Before rapper Why-G would become one of Toronto’s most promising young artists, he was born on November 12th 1994 and would spend the better part of his youth growing-up around the city’s most notorious neighborhood – Jane & Finch. It was in this part of the city that Why-G would bounce between his mom’s place on Orpington crescent, his Auntie’s home in Driftwood, and his grandma’s house at the intersection of Jane and Sheppard while his mom headed off to her job as a Child Youth worker during the day. As much back and forth as he was doing at home, Why-G was doing nearly as much shuffling at school as well, heading from Beverly Heights Middle School to Elmbank Junior Middle Academy for a year of Grade 8 and then off to C.W. Jeffrey’s Collegiate Institute for his high-school career. It was a hectic adolescence to say the least, but all this moving around never got in the way of him making friends. In fact, Why-G grew-up alongside Quinto Armani Gardner, aka, Pressa, and their history goes back a long way with both sets of their parents having been friends from the time they were attending high-school together.

Hey guys welcome back, it's Kara The Vampire Slayer and today I'm doing my "BEFORE I WAS FAMOUS". I might not be famous (yet) but as the soon-to-be Michael McCrudden's wife, and the host of Famous Entertainment, I thought it would be fun to react to some of my best throwbacks. I'm gonna check out everything from my baby photos, to my wild party girl memories, even some embarrassing videos. I appreciate you all for tuning in every Sunday, and I'm almost at 1000 subs! LET'S DO IT! Then I can film another juicy Q&A. Don't forget to LIKE and Subscribe!

Before Victor Wembanyama would be hailed as everything from an Alien to the single greatest NBA prospect since LeBron James, he was born in the Paris suburb of Le Chesney on January 4th, 2004 to a family of very, well, tall stalk. Let’s start with his pops, Felix -- a former longjumper who measures in at 6-foot-6. Then there’s his mother, Elodie, a former basketball player and coach who clocks in only three inches shorter than that at 6-foot-3! While Victor’s parents tend to shy away from the spotlight, it was his mom who introduced her young son to his love for the game of basketball. And while Victor has suggested in the past that his mom reminds him the most of himself, the list of athletes in his family definitely doesn’t end there. Not only is Victor’s sister, Eve, also a professional basketball player, his younger brother, Oscar, plays for a French under-18 club, and even his grandparents used to ball! Seriously, Victor’s grandfather played professionally in the 60s in the French first division for Paris University Club as a rugged 6-foot-7 center, while his grandma was also known for her skills on the court! So yeah, you could say that a dedication for sports runs deep in this family, but for Victor himself, it started when he spent his earliest days following his mom around the gym with whichever youth basketball team she happened to be coaching at the time. Soon enough, he started to play the ball around the age of 7 for his local club, Entente Le Chesnay Versailles. Then, at 10, he entered the JSF Nanterre Youth system after being discovered by their coach, Michael Allard, who originally thought he was looking at an assistant-coach when he first laid eyes on Victor – that’s how tall this kid already was back then.

Canadian rapper Tory Lanez has been a recognizable name to most folks in the hip-hop industry for a handful of years now -- ever since working his way up from the Toronto underground with the release of his hit single “Say It” and the Grammy-nominated track “Luv”, both of which were cuts off his debut studio album, “I Told You” that dropped in 2016. That project would be the very first that Tory ever released on a big-time label, more specifically, Interscope, whom Lanez would partner with for the next four years, releasing a further three-studio album and one mixtape. But by the early stages of 2020, Tory’s time with Interscope was officially over following an epic confrontation with Megan Thee Stallion that would result in shots being fired and a seemingly never-ending court case that has yet to work its way through the US legal system. In fact, the aftermath of what happened between these two would lead to Tory believing he’s been blackballed by the entire industry. To be honest, it looks like her has a point. The crazy thing is how innocently enough all this started off. Because by the time we realized that Tory and Megan were even in one another’s orbit, they honestly seemed like the best of friends. In April of 2020 -- only weeks after the pandemic set in -- a video popped up on Instagram Live of these two hanging out at Megan’s place. For the most part, fans of both rappers were immediately enamored over how Megan and Tory seemed into one another. Whether or not this relationship ever escalated to anything more than a flirtation, we don’t know for sure, but only a few months later, things would get complicated. Fast so let’s talk about the incident.

Before getting wrapped up in a rivalry with his own father, Marquise Jackson was born on October 13th, 1997 to parents 50 Cent and Shaniqua Tompkins. Upon his kid’s birth, the world-famous rapper would credit his son for totally changing his outlook on life. A noble intent to be sure, but one that wouldn’t exactly come to fruition. During Marquise’s early years, however, everything seemed to be going great. Not only would he regularly model for 50 Cent’s G-Unit clothing line, but he’d even walk the runway side-by-side with his pops on a few occasions as well. In 2009, when Marquise was only 12, Shaniqua would sue her former spouse, claiming he had gone back on his promise to “look after” her for life. As the subsequent court case unfolded, the judge would wind up dismissing Shanqiua’s demands for $50 Million, instead ordering the hip-hop mogul to provide around $25,000 per month in child support to Shaniqua until Marquise’s 18th Birthday in 2015 while also calling the feud between these former partners, “an unfortunate tale of a loving relationship gone sour.”

Before New York-based drill-rapper TDott Woo would be tragically gunned down on the Brooklyn streets in early 2022, he was born Tahjay Dobson sometime in the year 2000 and grew up near the intersection of East 98th Street and Avenue L. For those of you who don’t know that area all that well, that’s mostly a residential area in South East Brooklyn known as Canarsie. Outside of where he grew up, a lot of TDott’s youth has remained a mystery. That’s probably because this young man was still very much in the midst of blowing up when it all came crashing down around him. But in the beginning? Well, he had a whole ton of potential. TDott’s journey to becoming a drill rapper began with his friendship with two men – Fivio Foreign and Pop Smoke. These guys all grew up around Brooklyn and would see each other frequently in the same circles leading to TDott popping up in the background of their music videos where he’d show off his incredible dance moves – something that made him so popular he was eventually able to quit his day-job at the airport as a result. TDott’s most memorable appearances include Pop Smoke’s 2019 track “Welcome to the Party” as well as Fivio’s “Big Drip” single from that very same year. In fact, bhis dance-moves caught on so quickly, that before he knew it, he had garnered a reputation for popularizing what others would call the “Woo Walk” with “Woo” being an acronym for – Winning the Only Option. Soon enough, thousands of people were flocking to his social media profiles on TikTok and Instagram where he’d regularly upload content from his life alongside his incredibly famous friends as his own celebrity and popularity slowly but surely climbed upwards.

Before Yus Gz would become the next big up-and-coming Bronx drill rapper to keep your eye on, he was born Youssef Doumbouya in Brooklyn, New York on September 19th, 2003. A first-generation immigrant from the Ivory Coast of Africa, Yus grew up a practitioner of the church of Islam and would visit his home continent often as a kid. But faith wouldn’t keep him off the streets and after moving from his original neighborhood to Mott Haven in the Bronx around the age of six or seven, Yus would grow up, fast -- joining the local gang affiliation known as YGz – one that’s known for having beef with their nearby rival Opps, the OGz from SevSide -- the neighborhood where drill rapper, Kay Flock, is from. Yus Gz hasn’t revealed all that much about his personal life yet – but what we do know is that his mother, having immigrated from the Ivory Coast, doesn’t speak a word of English. Otherwise, he says the earliest years of his childhood were fairly uneventful and it wasn’t until he smoked his first blunt around the age of 14 that things began to go a little sideways. Soon enough, Yus found himself kicking in store windows and taking part in other stupid things like that. Unsurprisingly, this would lead to him spending a not-inconsiderate amount of time in Juvenile Hall – somewhere around 18 months to be exact. For a while, Yus refused to speak on what wound up putting him behind bars in the first place, but he’d eventually reveal to PPHilms that he was caught and charged with the crime of burglary.